Doing Interdisciplinary Asian Studies in the Age of the Anthropocene

In Bangalore, late in the summer of 2014, I listened to many animated conversations. There were political debates: the right-wing Hindu nationalist party had, earlier that summer, won national as well as state elections, evoking disparate reactions across society, sowing dissension even among the te...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inThe Journal of Asian studies Vol. 73; no. 4; pp. 975 - 987
Main Author Philip, Kavita
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published New York, USA Cambridge University Press 01.11.2014
Duke University Press, NC & IL
Subjects
Activism
Activists
Anthropocene
Asian history
Asian studies
Basavanagudi
Climate Change
Climate change policy
Climatology
Colonialism
Computer Software
Disruption
Documentary films
Earth
Ecological sustainability
Elections
Elites
Environmentalism
Hindus
History instruction
India
JAS at AAS: Asian Studies and Human Engagement with the Environment
Nationalism
Neighborhoods
Political Campaigns
Political Parties
Politics
Services
Social justice
Social movements
Social networks
Software
Sustainable development
Technology
Tyndall, John
New York
Silicon Valley-California
California
United States > US
India
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Summary:In Bangalore, late in the summer of 2014, I listened to many animated conversations. There were political debates: the right-wing Hindu nationalist party had, earlier that summer, won national as well as state elections, evoking disparate reactions across society, sowing dissension even among the technological elite. There were technological arguments: should Bangalore continue to be an outsourcing haven for software services, or did India need a new model of development? Technology itself no longer seemed to unite people and offer exciting futures, as it had a decade ago. In Basavanagudi, a neighborhood named after twelfth-century social reformer Basavanna, part of the South Bangalore constituency where Tom Friedman's friend Nandan Nilekani had just lost the local election to the Hindu nationalist BJP candidate, I noticed a growing buzz around a social media campaign for a new documentary on climate change. Facebook, Twitter, and chats excitedly shared news of the upcoming global release of a film seeking to unite the globe in a social movement to stop climate change. Software engineers and social justice activists might, it seemed, be able to come together on this topic, if not any other.
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ISSN:0021-9118
1752-0401
DOI:10.1017/S0021911814001648